Lesbian Pulp Fiction

The Sexually Intrepid World of Lesbian Paperback Novels, 1950-1965

By: Katherine V. Forrest - editor

Narrated by: Madison Vaughn

Long before the rise of the modern gay movement, an unnoticed literary revolution was occurring between the covers of the cheaply produced lesbian pulp paperbacks of the post-World War II era.

In 1950, publisher Fawcett Books founded its Gold Medal imprint, inaugurating the reign of lesbian pulp fiction. These were the books that small-town lesbians and prurient men bought by the millions - cheap, easy to find in drugstores, and immediately recognizable by their lurid covers: often a hard-looking brunette standing over a scantily clad blonde, or a man gazing in tormented lust at a lovely, unobtainable lesbian. For women leading straight lives, here was confirmation that they were not alone and that darkly glamorous, "gay" places like Greenwich Village existed.

Some - especially those written by lesbians - offered sympathetic and realistic depictions of "life in the shadows", while others (no less fun to read now) were smutty, sensational tales of innocent girls led astray. In the overheated prose typical of the genre, this collection documents the emergence of a lesbian subculture in postwar America.

©2005 Cleis Press (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

real life real love

What made the experience of listening to Lesbian Pulp Fiction the most enjoyable?

real love and life

Who was your favorite character and why?

bebo b. she is like me

Which scene was your favorite?

she took a waman home and made love to her

If you could take any character from Lesbian Pulp Fiction out to dinner, who would it be and why?

bebo

Not What I Thought

I'm a pulp fiction addict and thought this was a collection of lurid stories. Actually, it is just the opposite. These stories were a veiled cry for acceptance and a lifeline to an ostracized part of society. The introduction by editor Katherine Forrest is worth the price of the collection. The novels and excerpts are beautifully written and take you into a world these writers were forced into, a world that shouldn't have existed but sadly did. These authors (already second class citizens in the 50s & 60s) were feminist pioneers and their work is to be respected as manifestos as much as enjoyed as literature.

wonderful interpretation

I loved all the different voices the narrator did for the characters. wonderful book I definitely recommend it, it gave me a clear idea of how lesbians related in the 50s.

Lesbian short stories from the 1950's.

The Publisher’s note explains this title as well as I can.
Long before the rise of the modern gay movement, an unnoticed literary revolution was occurring between the covers of the cheaply produced lesbian pulp
paperbacks of the post-World War II era. In 1950, publisher Fawcett Books founded its Gold Medal imprint, inaugurating the reign of lesbian pulp fiction.
These were the books that small-town lesbians and prurient men bought by the millions - cheap, easy to find in drugstores, and immediately recognizable
by their lurid covers: often a hard-looking brunette standing over a scantily clad blonde, or a man gazing in tormented lust at a lovely, unobtainable
lesbian. For women leading straight lives, here was confirmation that they were not alone and that darkly glamorous, "gay" places like Greenwich Village
existed. Some - especially those written by lesbians - offered sympathetic and realistic depictions of "life in the shadows", while others (no less fun
to read now) were smutty, sensational tales of innocent girls led astray. In the overheated prose typical of the genre, this collection documents the emergence
of a lesbian subculture in postwar America.

These stories had one drawback. They were excerpts from full novels, so they never felt as if you got the whole story. But each one clearly described an earth-shaking event in the life of a particular woman. Ann Bannon’s introduction is very thorough and gives us a history of that period.